Its the new weight regulations put out by the Govt. That is why everything is switching to aluminum frames/IFS. New company would have to follow the same regs. So unless they made like a super light car to even their average, It is impossible for them to make a dedicated/heavy 4x4 anymore... Unless they saved weight elsewhere like made a 2 seater tiny solid axle rig.

 

that would be awesome ^_- maybe the forum needs their own company. Or people can keep buying conversion kits. Either way solid axles for the win

 

Ya, sad that we'll be forced to buy IFS if you want a new vehicle. I bought an 07 Commander for work 2 months ago. I do sales so I needed a nice 4 door SUV. It's nice but boy, it is no comparison to my XJ in snow & crappy weather. Great DD though.

Gotta adapt, at some point. I do plan on having a solid axle wheeler for a long time.

 

It's not really a big deal for me as I'm not rich enough to off road a $30k+ vehicle I was paying monthly for hard enough to need a solid axle. If I was rich I'd have a GC SRT 8 for the street and spend 30k on the XJ. I'm sure a custom build rig in the same price range would out wheel anything from a factory.

 

A aluminum body is nothing new the first land rovers used them because at the time it was cheaper then steel for them.And independent suspension is nothing new for a jeep either,The m151 mutt had ifs and irs in the late 50s early 60s.The fsj cherokee had a ifs early in its life and got dropped later on.